Poverty, Feminization of

Identifying the Feminization of Poverty

The feminization of poverty as an ideological construct is informed by both empirical and theoretical evidence. Early writings on the feminization of poverty used statistical data or demographic trends to identify that women, relative to men, constituted a significant portion of the poor in the United States. Generally using conventional measures of poverty in the United States (such as the “poverty threshold”), scholars of the feminization of poverty noted that from 1950 to 1970, the overall rate of poverty in the United States was declining but the number of women in poverty was both higher than and surpassing the number of men. What appeared to be a glaring contradiction could be explained by a number of socioeconomic and sociohistorical factors. Although the average or overall poverty rates of both men and women were decreasing during this era, the poverty rates for men were declining at a faster pace than the poverty rates of women; therefore, a greater number of women remained in poverty or below the poverty line. The gap in the poverty rate between men and women was translated into or calculated as a sex-poverty ratio, which became widely associated with and a measure of the feminization of poverty.

Aside from the sex-poverty ratio, the feminization of poverty is often described in terms of sociocultural perceptions of women and women's value. More specifically, many feminists argue that as a result of their devalued status within society, women have a greater potential or likelihood of becoming poor than do men. In a patriarchal society, which values and privileges both men and masculinity, women are often forced to become subordinate to and dependent on men. The socially prescribed sex roles that exist in the United States have long been associated with cultural and biological assumptions that have sought to distinguish [Page 664]between feminine and masculine social roles or role expectations. These assumptions were central in creating distinctions between occupations more befitting of or appropriate for women compared with men. As noted by many radical and socialist feminists, the distinguishing between femininity and masculinity, in particular men's and women's work, is a social construction that has allowed for men to derive power, prestige, and dominance over women in a patriarchal and capitalist society. Such a social arrangement, moreover, has prevented the majority of women from gaining access to the valued resources and life opportunities needed to become self-sufficient and upwardly mobile. In other words, the feminization of poverty acknowledges that women have a high probability of being poor or experiencing poverty given their disadvantaged status in society. This key assumption of the feminization of poverty is a position linked to various schools of feminist thought and theory.

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